Job training site to temporarily close in Golconda, IL

Lawmakers from Illinois are asking the Department of Labor to work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest service to reopen the Golconda Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center.

According to its social media post, the Golconda Job Corps is closing temporarily. The Department of Labor said operations would be suspended by August 19.

Job Corps is a career training program through the U.S. Department of Labor that helps people ages 16-24 get their GED or diploma.

One of its former students, Coletta Grant explained what Job Corps means to her.

"It was a stable place to live. It was food every day. I got my education there, my GED," she said. "I got a trade, my welding degree. The best thing that ever happened to me. Job Corps will close then there won't be nobody here to teach these kids that might need help. There could be another me out there, lost in the system and not having no one to rely on."

The Golconda center has 30 students and according to its alumni page, those students will be "off the center" by the weekend.

In a letter to the National Director of the Office of Job Corps, U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Representative John Shimkus asked for the criteria that must be met in order to reopen the center.